A tale of two cities

(Conclusion)

Leaving Manila before the New Year holiday was a breeze, specifically if you took the first flight out to ensure that flight delays have not built up yet and the rush hour morning traffic has not started.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) had already gone through the 2023 exodus for Christmas, so the New Year exodus was probably lesser and they had already established the necessary protocols. And so it was. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 was calm and still not crowded when we arrived at 6:30 a.m. T3 was brightly lit, sparklingly polished floors and orderly cordons, with outsourced contractors helping direct departing passengers to their designated check-in counters.

Even the immigration area was prepared for the expected mass exodus, with a well-arranged cordon leading to the counters. Clearly, the pre-departure shopping area has been lessened, and new food concessionaires have taken over.

It was also a pleasant experience to finally check out Philippine Airlines’ new Mabuhay Lounge, designed by the fabulous Almario sisters, who gave the new pre-departure lounge area a light, airy and anticipatory expectation of their flight out. The elongated space was thoughtfully sectioned off into a quiet lounge area for those who need to rest before their flight, while the opposite side allowed for a relaxed conversation area, and the dining hall was located at the back, which also had a view of the quiet end of the NAIA complex.

The changes PAL has been undertaking under the young and vibrant leadership of Lucio “Han” Tan III and Capt. Stanley Ng are apparent, with a lot noticing the improved on time departure of the country’s flag carrier, and less disparaging remarks about PAL’s former ‘Plane Always Late’ tag.

Thus, one may be briefly lulled into a sense of relief that some things are improving for the better for Manila, if not for the entire country.

NAIA and Suvarnabhumi

Unfortunately, after a now relatively quick three hours or so, one gets to see before landing in Bangkok, the sprawling Suvarnabhumi Airport which occupies 3,240 hectares.

All illusions about an improved NAIA T3, which occupies a mere 7.3 hectares or even smaller based on differing figures, quickly turns into despair upon the brutal realization at just how inadequate our infrastructure growth has been when compared over a 34-year period to just Bangkok alone.

The NAIA complex is a stark symbol of just how our growth has been badly stunted by successive myopic governments more focused on “democratic governance” than on economic growth.

The older Marcos administration, to be fair, had a good, but badly executed industrialization program. It also planted the seeds for the Light Rail Transit. Former president Corazon Aquino had to struggle six years on restoring democratic processes and multiple threats of rebellion while former president Fidel Ramos was able to start an economic resurgence from 1992 to 1998 during which he started the elevated Skyway by the then Philippine National Construction Corp.

And then an unfortunate 12 year regression into political power grabs during the terms of former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo continued to keep focus away from infrastructure projects until former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, from 2010 to 2016, opted to involve the private sector to undertake the much needed infra projects through the PPP model.

Airports, unfortunately, kept on getting bogged down by competing interests.

Tourism

The Philippines also has one very big problem. It likes to boast even though it cannot deliver the goods. Our Department of Tourism, for one, likes to proclaim its achievements even though it really struggles to ensure that the basics are in place before inviting tourists.

For 2023, the DOT has reported that from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, the country logged 5.45 million foreign tourists who spent P483.54 billion.

In comparison, the Bangkok Post reported that from Jan. 1 to Dec. 24, 2023 alone, Thailand recorded 27.25 million tourist already, almost hitting its projected 25 million to 28 million tourist arrival projection for the whole of 2023.

The Thai government projects domestic tourism revenues of one trillion baht (P1.6 trillion) alone from its domestic tourists and 2.5 trillion baht (P4 trillion) from foreign tourist.

For 2024, Thailand has set an ambitious 3.5 trillion baht (P5.61 trillion) for the Thai economy through its tourism industry alone.

Such stark contrast when our airport alone would be overwhelmed by the number of tourists that visited Thailand last year.

Getting through Thai immigration alone took a long one hour even though they were already fully automated and had two separate immigration facilities, with up to 40 officers processing the unbelievable number of tourists at that hour that we landed alone.

The shopping areas were always crowded with tourists, their Skytrain, their MRT, their restaurants. Chinatown becomes one crowded open air outdoor restaurant with an abundance of seafood – lobsters, crabs, all kinds of fish, even the endangered shark’s fin, all kinds of mollusk, vegetables, fruits and whatever, at reasonable cheap prices, which in comparison to Manila, at the seafood markets would cost an arm and a leg for ordinary Filipinos who have to make do with a humble cup noodle for their daily lunch.

Getting around Manila is already a turn off because of the traffic and the lack of mass transit facilities, more so in the provinces.

It’s more fun in Manila…not.